Sermon Notes

If there is one thing in life you can be sure of as the common saying goes, it is death and taxes. Death comes to us all, but there is hope in Christ for what happens after death.

We continue our sermon series on ‘Essential Doctrines of the Christian faith’. In this sermon, we need to consider two of these doctrines:

• Substitutionary atonement
• The bodily resurrection of Christ

The problem – Sin has a cost

Some might see death simply as being inevitable and part of the circle of life. Death however was not always part of a ‘natural process’.

The Bible makes it clear, death is in the world because of sin (Romans 5:12), and the penalty of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Man brought sin into the world because of disobedience to the commandment of God.

The Doctrine of Atonement

Everyone recognises there’s ‘no such thing as a free lunch’ as the saying goes, and surely there is a cost if it were possible for you to redeem your life from sin and its penalty, death?

This is where the word ‘Atonement’ comes in, it means:

• making right a wrong done
• to satisfy a debt owed

The complication – Are you good enough?

Q. What must someone do to get into heaven?

A popular response is normally, “you just have to live a good life”, but what does a good life look like? And by what standard do you measure ‘good’?

Nobody ever passed the LAW of works test

• God gave the Jewish nation a works-based law (The Old Testament)
• None could keep it
• If you slipped on any point, at any time in your life….
  • You broke the law and would need redemption from sin
• Until Jesus, there was none who could do the law perfectly
  • All fell short of the required standard

Why we need Jesus – our substitute

What can you give to redeem your own life? The answer is nothing. You have nothing that would ever be enough to pay for all the sin in your life, and then add eternal life on top of that.

You would need the blood of someone that was without sin, offered as a sacrifice to pay for those who were guilty of sin. This is why God sent his only begotten son, to die in our place. Jesus became our substitute on the cross.

The resolution – resurrection is essential

Jesus said of himself..

 “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.”

John 11:25 (NKJV)

• Jesus’ resurrection wasn’t just a spiritual one
  • which many naysayers through the centuries have tried to claim
• But was a physical, bodily resurrection
• This was necessary – to prove his divinity and evidence for the gospel

Evidence of the resurrection

Without the verifiable bodily resurrection, it would be easy for the deniers to ‘pour water’ over the claims of the disciples. Those who oppose Jesus and his teachings, have throughout the centuries, mocked the very notion of any kind of resurrection from the dead.

The resurrection is central to Christianity – 1 Corinthians 15:13–14

It would have been easy for those that oppose Jesus to prove their case, that a crucified and dead man was indeed dead; just produce the body. They never could because the bodily resurrection is real and true.

Questions for further study

1. Discuss what sin is (1 John 3:4) and how it affects our lives with one another
   1. How does sin affect our relationship with God (Psalm 51:4)
2. Death is a result of the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden (Rom 5:12), how did Jesus struggle with death, and how did it affect (if anything) his life and ministry, and is there anything we can learn from his example?
3. Do you ever feel your relationship with God is directly tied to your ability to live a righteous life, and do you ever worry that it affects your salvation?
4. Knowing that Jesus died in our place for our sins (2 Cor 5:21, Isaiah 53:4,5), we now have peace with God (Romans 5:1), so why is it sometimes we struggle and are not at peace with ourselves toward God?
5. How important is the resurrection of Christ and what effect did this have on bringing you to a saving faith?